San Jose Fire Museum RisesOut of the Ashes

The group's more than 250 members are actively working to preserve old Fire Station 1 to use it as a permanent San Jose Fire Museum. It would be home to the historic pumpers and engines as well as other fire-fighting apparatus the group has been collecting and lovingly restoring over the past four decades.

The collection includes an 1810 James Smith Pumper, a ladder truck from the 1870s, an 1890 Amosekeag Franklin Engine, an 1899 American Steam Engine and many more fire engines, tools and equipment from the 19th and 20th centuries.

In addition to the fascinating antique equipment, a museum would also tell the history of the second oldest fire department in the United States, organized in 1854 when San Jose was briefly the capitol of California.

John McMillan, who retired in 2004 as Assistant Fire Chief after 30 years with the San Jose Fire Department, is president of the museum board and spearheading efforts to turn their dream into a reality.


Posted by: CA Alberto Olmos, SJFD, PIO